It’s not easy creating and maintaining a t-shirt design business, especially if you lack the creativity to create your own designs. However, it’s really how you run the business that gives you a fighting chance in the world of t-shirt commerce.

So what do you really need to succeed in making t-shirts on your own?

Original concept. With a concept that’s truly your own, you will find no difficulty marketing your products. Then again, it’s hard to create something that’s really original today. You might take in inspiration from a few other designs to create one unique design, but remember not to imitate.

Eye for Design. There are different people with different tastes in design. You should know that and you should design accordingly. Learn to vary between designs that are loud and designs that are simple yet classy.

Like previously said, you shouldn’t aim for loud and colorful designs all the time. Simple designs are most of the time more appreciated than designs that feature complicated symbols and shapes.

A Colorful shirt. This doesn’t mean the color of the design, but the color combination of the shirt and the design. Learning this isn’t extremely difficult. There are available tutorials on the web; alternatively, you can learn which colors work together and don’t by testing them on photo editing software.

Quality Product. You can create products all you want, but you should make sure your product is of good quality. A good way of making sure is to buy only quality materials—at an affordable price, if you’re just starting out—to help in the creation of good merchandise.

An idea of what you’re doing. Ahead of making sure that you sell big, you should also know big. Study up on design trends; know what people want. This helps in making sure you’ll sell big.

That’s only a few tips. What you should really do is to practice this while you work. Remember, experience is a very good teacher.

For the business minded, anything can be a valid business. If you have the know-how and the talent of creating unique shirt or hoodie designs, though, you can make profits from this. It all takes the drive and the skill to do it.

Starting a Dream

Starting anything begins with a well-thought path toward making it work. In the shirt design business, here’s how:

Create a Unique Design. The design process of creating a shirt is a hard one. You usually have an idea or you don’t. It’s either a catchy phrase or a design of impeccable sight. Once you have your design virtually or on print in a mock manner, it’s time to figure out the business side.

Start making your business. Businesses will not work in the first few months, contrary to what people believe. However, if you have a clear vision and a precise plan, you will recover. You should be able to create a business name and write down a business plan.

Take care of the legalities. You should create make everything official by taking care of legalities. This means registering your business, getting the necessary licenses and permits, and create trademarks for your designs. This helps in making your business legit.

There are different processes you can use in creating your shirt. Focus on one that you know most about. You should allot a budget for buying supplies that are needed under this process.

Marketing and Pricing. Next is pricing and making a profit off of your designs. These shirts should be priced accordingly, taking into account the materials, labor, and hours you poured into making them. You should also make people aware of your shirts through marketing.

Working the Dream

Of course, these are only gists of what goes behind a t-shirt printing and designing business. As long as you have the drive and believe in your dream, though, you can make this—and anything—happen.

You’ve probably seen a t-shirt design that you thought you’d do better. You probably can, although it would undergo a strict and rigorous process.

You could also probably sell your designs, but let’s start with just creating a design you thought up from scratch.

Design Creation. Your designs would have to come from you to be considered original. Once you’ve picked out which design you’re going to do, pick a color and create a mock-up. Programs like Photoshop are good platforms to create a virtual design of your shirt.

Choosing a Niche. There are many niches to choose from. Depending on which you’re really familiar with, center on one, and pattern your shirt after that. If you’re a fan of anime or a big music lover, you could go for those.

Choose Quality Materials. You shouldn’t limit yourself to using sub-standard materials, just because it’s your shirt. Go for materials which big mass-produced shirt shops also use.

Go Digital. As previously mentioned, Photoshop is a program you could use, but there are others you could probably create your design in. Once you’re confident enough with the final design, you should print it and get started with the design.

Choose a Platform. There are certain processes in which you could place your design on your shirt. One would be to do a screen print of it. You could also stencil your design onto your shirt. The process, whichever is easier, is entirely and completely up to you.

Dry and Wash. Whatever process you choose to create your shirt with, you should allow it to sit where there’s plenty of air and sun. Once you feel and see that it’s dry, you could wash it. Once it’s all good, you can wear it.

There you have it! You’ve just created a shirt with a design that no one else has, unless you created your unique version of an already existing design. You can build on this for a t-shirt business; if not, you can continue creating custom-designed shirts for yourself with this process.…